Vlade made up for those missed free throws seven years later (in 2002). He missed 2 very late in the game, and shortly after that Horry hit a 3 to beat the Kings and tie the series up at 2-2 (and as someone here mentioned, Vlade tipped the ball to Horry).

Speaking of missed free throws against the Spurs, even Kobe missed a couple of huge free throws in game 2 in 1999. But Kobe wasn’t going to let that stop him.

Vlade bricking both wasn't a surprise, that's the only difference. He didn't wanna be at the line, had a Mike Tyson victim look on his face. That was the basic end of that series because we got our doors blown off in Gm1, totally unprepared -- something we were used to in the midlate 90s. Spurs were the worst matchup we coulda had that year, them and Utah. Too rugged for us. SEA was in our wheelhouse. We swept HOU in the RS, but I doubt we beat them in the playoffs, tbh. Probably would've fared as well as we did against them in 96, which was not that good. Horry/Smith/Cassell were all pains in the ass beyond Hakeem._________________GOAT MAGIC REELSEDALE TRIBUTEEDDIE DONX!

People forget that the year we upset Seattle, he was a 16/10/4 centerwith 2 blocks a game. After he missed those clutch free throws against the Spurs, it seemed to me like he was never quite the same. He shot 77% from the line in 94-95 and shot about 10% worse on average for the reset of his career.

He was really, REALLY good.

I remember him blocking Kobe on a break. That was Frobe version 1.0 too.

Kobe even mentioned later (laughingly) that he was determined to pay Vlade back for that.

Oh man, those two missed free throws! All he needed was one for us to steal game 2. And that was the series we took them to 6 games with Nick hitting that running 3 pointer almost at the buzzer to force game 6. And if we won that series, we would've then played the Rockets in the WCF, who we, oddly, owned that season.

Wow, I didn’t realize we swept the Rockets. But they didn’t play well during the season and the Jazz, Spurs and Magic all dominated the Rockets too before losing to them in the playoffs. I thought we would beat the Rockets in the 96 playoffs and that series was ugly to watch.

Losing game 2 sucked but I really doubt we beat the Spurs even if Vlade hits those free throws and the series gets tied at 1-1. They crushed us 3 times in the regular season and won the big games in the series pretty convincingly. I really hoped Van Exel winning game 5 would bring some momentum into game 6, which was in LA, but the Spurs won that game without much trouble despite that being a bigger game for us. We had a pretty weak performance in game 4 also, which was in LA. We were down 2-1, had some momentum after winning game 3 and the Spurs won in LA despite not being in as desperate of a situation. And the Spurs won game 1 in a blowout.

Assuming we beat the Spurs I find it hard to believe we beat the Rockets and Magic, although we did play the Magic pretty well in the very small number of games in the 95 and 96 seasons. We would have been a higher seed against the Rockets, but I wouldn’t bet against Hakeem that year. The next year it was basically the same team plus Magic and we got knocked out of the first round.

And this is why the team got Shaq and Kobe obviously. Cedric Ceballos was the only all-star in the 95 and 96 seasons. I was so excited when Magic Johnson came back because I badly wanted the team to have a big name that people took more seriously. If Cedric Ceballos lead the 95 team to a ring it would have been a bigger surprise than the Rockets winning it in my opinion.

Vlade made up for those missed free throws seven years later (in 2002). He missed 2 very late in the game, and shortly after that Horry hit a 3 to beat the Kings and tie the series up at 2-2 (and as someone here mentioned, Vlade tipped the ball to Horry).

Speaking of missed free throws against the Spurs, even Kobe missed a couple of huge free throws in game 2 in 1999. But Kobe wasn’t going to let that stop him.

I should add that Kobe was only 20 that year. And this was 2 years after the airballs; crazy how young he was in those situations. But he was super clutch in the playoffs at age 21 and won his first ring.

Vlade made up for those missed free throws seven years later (in 2002). He missed 2 very late in the game, and shortly after that Horry hit a 3 to beat the Kings and tie the series up at 2-2 (and as someone here mentioned, Vlade tipped the ball to Horry).

Speaking of missed free throws against the Spurs, even Kobe missed a couple of huge free throws in game 2 in 1999. But Kobe wasn’t going to let that stop him.

Vlade bricking both wasn't a surprise, that's the only difference. He didn't wanna be at the line, had a Mike Tyson victim look on his face. That was the basic end of that series because we got our doors blown off in Gm1, totally unprepared -- something we were used to in the midlate 90s. Spurs were the worst matchup we coulda had that year, them and Utah. Too rugged for us. SEA was in our wheelhouse. We swept HOU in the RS, but I doubt we beat them in the playoffs, tbh. Probably would've fared as well as we did against them in 96, which was not that good. Horry/Smith/Cassell were all pains in the ass beyond Hakeem.

The Spurs were the team I was most worried about. They were on a roll the second half of the season. Their record was 40-6 in the last 46 games and then they swept the first round. I felt much more comfortable against the Sonics because we kept having success against them.

People forget that the year we upset Seattle, he was a 16/10/4 centerwith 2 blocks a game. After he missed those clutch free throws against the Spurs, it seemed to me like he was never quite the same. He shot 77% from the line in 94-95 and shot about 10% worse on average for the reset of his career.

He was really, REALLY good.

I remember him blocking Kobe on a break. That was Frobe version 1.0 too.

Kobe even mentioned later (laughingly) that he was determined to pay Vlade back for that.

Oh man, those two missed free throws! All he needed was one for us to steal game 2. And that was the series we took them to 6 games with Nick hitting that running 3 pointer almost at the buzzer to force game 6. And if we won that series, we would've then played the Rockets in the WCF, who we, oddly, owned that season.

Wow, I didn’t realize we swept the Rockets. But they didn’t play well during the season and the Jazz, Spurs and Magic all dominated the Rockets too before losing to them in the playoffs. I thought we would beat the Rockets in the 96 playoffs and that series was ugly to watch.

Losing game 2 sucked but I really doubt we beat the Spurs even if Vlade hits those free throws and the series gets tied at 1-1. They crushed us 3 times in the regular season and won the big games in the series pretty convincingly. I really hoped Van Exel winning game 5 would bring some momentum into game 6, which was in LA, but the Spurs won that game without much trouble despite that being a bigger game for us. We had a pretty weak performance in game 4 also, which was in LA. We were down 2-1, had some momentum after winning game 3 and the Spurs won in LA despite not being in as desperate of a situation. And the Spurs won game 1 in a blowout.

Assuming we beat the Spurs I find it hard to believe we beat the Rockets and Magic, although we did play the Magic pretty well in the very small number of games in the 95 and 96 seasons. We would have been a higher seed against the Rockets, but I wouldn’t bet against Hakeem that year. The next year it was basically the same team plus Magic and we got knocked out of the first round.

And this is why the team got Shaq and Kobe obviously. Cedric Ceballos was the only all-star in the 95 and 96 seasons. I was so excited when Magic Johnson came back because I badly wanted the team to have a big name that people took more seriously. If Cedric Ceballos lead the 95 team to a ring it would have been a bigger surprise than the Rockets winning it in my opinion.

Yeah, I agree with you here. The Spurs were just miles better than us. More than likely, if we stole game 2, it would've been their 'wake-up' call and they probably would've beaten us in game 3 to get their 2-1 edge back.

It's fun to think about as the path was all lined up for us (similar to the '06 playoffs), but that team was just not ready. Very fun to watch tho.

And man, the '96 team looked goood when Magic arrived. Everything was great until Ceballos went jet skiing in Havasu Then Nick shoved a ref and then Magic bumped one like 3 games later. Seems like it all went downhill from here.

We don't get Kobe unless Vlade was a decent NBA player. I have fond memories of Vlade the Laker, warts and all but yeah, he was in the transition period._________________LBJ in 22 playoff games (2017-18): 34/9/9
AD in 9 playoff games (2017-18): 30/13/2.3bpg/2spg.

Vlade hit another GW from just inside the top of the arc at IND in 94. Reggie hit a trey to put them up by one in front of the Lakers bench and, as usual, he turned around to talk sh to them. He had a habit of yacking too soon because around that same timeframe, Pippen hit that famous shot on the Pacers at CHI Stadium and bowed at the waist at center court mimicking Reggie's shot/bow just seconds before. Then the Bulls won another at Market Square and Pippen did the center court bow again to the Pacer fans' dismay.

Then again, even Elden hit 3 GWs with the Lakers and at least one other w/ the Hornets at the buzzer. At NJ in 96 before Magic came back, we were tied 98-98 and Del had Vlade attempt one of those Sabonisey fake handoffs/trots to the rim whereby a guard passes it to Vlad at the arc and then Vlade fakes the handoff back to the guard and lumbers to the rim. Sabonis tried the same play in 2000 POs, Kobe blocking him at rim. Vlade missed the layup point blank, but Elden put it back in at 0.1._________________GOAT MAGIC REELSEDALE TRIBUTEEDDIE DONX!

Vlade was not the only one who missed free throws. Elden was guilty too. Unforgivable. I don’t think any laker season was a greater letdown. Maybe that Houston series - actually probably not because the titles were flowing during that time and there had been such a long drought in the 90s.

The part that impressed me was his knack for putting up 20/20 games. He had a lot and for some reason that stat really impressed me more than big point games growing up.

The Spurs were the team I was most worried about. They were on a roll the second half of the season. Their record was 40-6 in the last 46 games and then they swept the first round. I felt much more comfortable against the Sonics because we kept having success against them.

Was looking at the boxes on bballref. All the 90s heads will remember this, but in order to diss him again merely by bringing this up, Ceballos was crap for us for the POs. Straight RS player, sad to discover, and he had no self-awareness when he would refer to himself as Chise. Early into the 95/6 season, still fresh from his disappointing playoffs, he had the gall to yell "NOT READY!" at rookie Garnett in a preseason game, so he was arrogant in his incorrectness. Sometimes you have to find out on your own why a guy was predominantly a bench type on his prior team.

As for the Spurs in 1995, we shot 390-400 for those games. Ughly and their team D was good, especially when Rodman felt like being serious. When he wasn't, he was pissing off Bob Hill by taking his shoes off every time he checked out and they had to wait for him to put them back on when called on. What a weirdo. He had a 22/22 gm on us in that series. We managed to let Rodman score 22 points. And another thing is that series had God awful reffing from stem to stern, mostly against us. Even in the Game 6 win, you could tell those bastards were ready to close the curtain on our season. Vlade legitimately got knocked down in the first few mins by Cummings and Chick/Stu were disgusted. Javie stared at it, but nada (I'd like to know if Lanny still has any hottakes on the refs in that series). Robbo got away with a 6 step travel back when they used to call traveling. I recapped the Chick verz of that and made sure to include both of those moments, iirc both from the first half. Rodman was all over Vlade and Elden's backs and you couldn't breathe on Robbo or it was a whistle. MVP... We were lucky to get that single win at SA if not the series. And it always sucked how they could get the absolute max out of guys like Del Negro and Avery J and Cummings/Carr or Rivers and so on. We'd get killed by their non-stars and stars alike. In 99, I believe the bane of Laker Nation was Jaren Jackson I.

The Spurs were the team I was most worried about. They were on a roll the second half of the season. Their record was 40-6 in the last 46 games and then they swept the first round. I felt much more comfortable against the Sonics because we kept having success against them.

Was looking at the boxes on bballref. All the 90s heads will remember this, but in order to diss him again merely by bringing this up, Ceballos was crap for us for the POs. Straight RS player, sad to discover, and he had no self-awareness when he would refer to himself as Chise. Early into the 95/6 season, still fresh from his disappointing playoffs, he had the gall to yell "NOT READY!" at rookie Garnett in a preseason game, so he was arrogant in his incorrectness. Sometimes you have to find out on your own why a guy was predominantly a bench type on his prior team.

As for the Spurs in 1995, we shot 390-400 for those games. Ughly and their team D was good, especially when Rodman felt like being serious. When he wasn't, he was pissing off Bob Hill by taking his shoes off every time he checked out and they had to wait for him to put them back on when called on. What a weirdo. He had a 22/22 gm on us in that series. We managed to let Rodman score 22 points. And another thing is that series had God awful reffing from stem to stern, mostly against us. Even in the Game 6 win, you could tell those bastards were ready to close the curtain on our season. Vlade legitimately got knocked down in the first few mins by Cummings and Chick/Stu were disgusted. Javie stared at it, but nada (I'd like to know if Lanny still has any hottakes on the refs in that series). Robbo got away with a 6 step travel back when they used to call traveling. I recapped the Chick verz of that and made sure to include both of those moments, iirc both from the first half. Rodman was all over Vlade and Elden's backs and you couldn't breathe on Robbo or it was a whistle. MVP... We were lucky to get that single win at SA if not the series. And it always sucked how they could get the absolute max out of guys like Del Negro and Avery J and Cummings/Carr or Rivers and so on. We'd get killed by their non-stars and stars alike. In 99, I believe the bane of Laker Nation was Jaren Jackson I.

Man, I can totally remember this series so vividly. Like I can remember exactly where I was and how I was riding and dying on each make or miss. I'm still miffed how Elden's finger-roll rimmed out of there before Nick's running 3.

Haha, yeah, Rodman was such a wacko. Totally remember him taking off his shoes. IIRC, this was the beginning of his crazy tattoos and hair coloring phase. Think he was dating Madonna around this time as well. They had to have Jack Haley (RIP) be his personal babysitter... But yeah, when he was serious, he was a force.

Funny how you also mention Ced sucking in the playoffs. I watched a bit of game 2 of Round 1 vs the Sonics last night and that was the one game he went off (think he had 33 points including the dagger 3 pointer with 30 seconds left). But you're right, he did tend to disappear. Nick and Elden were the guys who were clutch (mostly Nick).

I was at that game in literally the top row at the Sistine Chapel of Basketball, the house that Kobe and Shaq built.

I will never forget it. Thanks for refreshing the memory.

This was one of those rare "where were you?" life moments that is impossible to forget. I was a teenager on a family vacation in Maui. I was in my hotel room with the sliding glass door to the balcony wide open. After Horry hit that shot I ran out on the balcony and started screaming "HORRRYYYYYY!!!" I remember seeing a Laker fan celebrating from a balcony on the next tower across from ours. We were pointing at each other and jumping up and down. Someone called security to check if I was ok Wore my Kobe jersey the rest of that vacation getting high fives from random fans walking by. What a glorious time.

He was nice to have as a backup when Shaq kept getting injured his first couple of seasons as a Laker. Before Shaq arrived, he was probably my 5th or 6th favorite player on the team (the team had a lot of decent/good player that weren’t really all-stars).

Speaking of missed free throws, Shaq missed a couple in the last game of the season which cost the team the division. As a result the team ran into Utah in the second round. That was an embarrassing way to end the season.

The Spurs were the team I was most worried about. They were on a roll the second half of the season. Their record was 40-6 in the last 46 games and then they swept the first round. I felt much more comfortable against the Sonics because we kept having success against them.

Was looking at the boxes on bballref. All the 90s heads will remember this, but in order to diss him again merely by bringing this up, Ceballos was crap for us for the POs. Straight RS player, sad to discover, and he had no self-awareness when he would refer to himself as Chise. Early into the 95/6 season, still fresh from his disappointing playoffs, he had the gall to yell "NOT READY!" at rookie Garnett in a preseason game, so he was arrogant in his incorrectness. Sometimes you have to find out on your own why a guy was predominantly a bench type on his prior team.

As for the Spurs in 1995, we shot 390-400 for those games. Ughly and their team D was good, especially when Rodman felt like being serious. When he wasn't, he was pissing off Bob Hill by taking his shoes off every time he checked out and they had to wait for him to put them back on when called on. What a weirdo. He had a 22/22 gm on us in that series. We managed to let Rodman score 22 points. And another thing is that series had God awful reffing from stem to stern, mostly against us. Even in the Game 6 win, you could tell those bastards were ready to close the curtain on our season. Vlade legitimately got knocked down in the first few mins by Cummings and Chick/Stu were disgusted. Javie stared at it, but nada (I'd like to know if Lanny still has any hottakes on the refs in that series). Robbo got away with a 6 step travel back when they used to call traveling. I recapped the Chick verz of that and made sure to include both of those moments, iirc both from the first half. Rodman was all over Vlade and Elden's backs and you couldn't breathe on Robbo or it was a whistle. MVP... We were lucky to get that single win at SA if not the series. And it always sucked how they could get the absolute max out of guys like Del Negro and Avery J and Cummings/Carr or Rivers and so on. We'd get killed by their non-stars and stars alike. In 99, I believe the bane of Laker Nation was Jaren Jackson I.

Ceballos had a much better supporting cast than Kobe did when Kobe was stuck with Odom, Smush, Luke, Kwame, etc. Can you imagine putting Ceballos on a team like that? Even if he doesn’t take a vacation it wouldn’t surprise me if they lost 60 games.

Kind of interesting to try and imagine how Kobe would have done on a roster with Van Exel, Eddie Jones, Vlade, an older Magic Johnson, etc. Maybe Van Exel and Kobe is a weird fit, but at least Kobe would play with a guy that could deliver in big moments and had no fear. I felt more confident watching Van Exel take a questionable shot than I felt watching Ron Artest do it years later. Kobe and Magic in the backcourt would have been interesting, and so would Kobe playing with Vlade in his prime.

I really loved Vlade with Magic and then as part of the LakeShow crew with guys like Nick Van Exel.

Obviously was traded as part of the Kobe deal, but I think people forget about how nice Vlade was as a Laker, and that he had nearly 7 seasons in a Lakers uniform.

What are your memories of Vlade?

Divac was a good, all-around center who played in an era filled with great centers. He was a finesse guy who played soft. Great passer who flopped a lot.

Never close to making an All-Star team or winning any postseason awards while he was with us. At his best, he was probably the 7-10th best center in the league.

He kind of symbolized our down period between showtime and the Shaq Kobe era: good but not quite good enough, so he left you a little frustrated.

Not just that, but most of those guys had no heart. As others alluded to in this thread, Vlade, Elden, Ceballos and also Eddie Jones had a tendency to shrink during the playoffs.

Van Exel was the only guy on that team that had any real heart. In those days before Kobe, he was a lot like Kobe in that he not only wanted the ball in crunch time, but he made so many shots not only to win the game, but also to force OT or to simply give us a chance to win.

In the end, those teams didn't have nearly enough talent, although the 90s were an era when you didn't need nearly as much talent to contend for the championship as you've needed the last 12 years._________________"We just sat in the locker room and I told the fellas, 'We need to check ourselves, 'cause we're the world champions and we're not out here fighting.'"

He was nice to have as a backup when Shaq kept getting injured his first couple of seasons as a Laker. Before Shaq arrived, he was probably my 5th or 6th favorite player on the team (the team had a lot of decent/good player that weren’t really all-stars).

Speaking of missed free throws, Shaq missed a couple in the last game of the season which cost the team the division. As a result the team ran into Utah in the second round. That was an embarrassing way to end the season.

Elden was pretty good by about 94/5, but I think he should've stayed at the weight he was at that season. Tho weight stats were sometimes bogus, to me, it looked like he gained a little more by 96/7 in order to play more backup C maybe, reminded me of what we did with Bynum after 07/8. He had filled out and made progress every year for his first 6-7. He was a beanpole in his rookie season, which used to give me hope for Brandon Ingram. He was a natural sub 7 foot center, that's where he played his best, but you needed to clear a side for him and allow him to back down guys. By 95, there weren't too many that he couldn't back down at 4, Malone being the chief one. Barkley couldn't handle him on the block, tho vice versa. When Shaq was out in 97, Elden scored 40 against Ewing in a bizarre OT game at The Forum that we lost. Starks hit a 3 that bounced all over the rim and top of the backboard tho, otherwise we woulda pulled it off. Elden however wound up missing a layup that he should've dunked, it was an ironic Ewingish decision for a clutch shot. I don't have that one, but I got the next game or so where he scored 36-38 vs Muresan/Webber. Bad tape, but still got it. He faced up Muresan and ducked under his armpit at one point. Shaq instantly ripped up any open space on the low block that both Elden and Ced needed to excel. Ced needed to be under the rim for those garbage buckets.

Elden was a solid, inconsistent center in an era of great centers. Good shot blocker and decent post moves and decent mid-range shot

When Shaq arrived, they were a bad pair. Elden wasn't a power forward really. And they got into each other's way whenever they were on the court at the same time.

I never liked the Glen Rice trade but I saw the reasoning behind it. For some reason, West thought Eddie Jones couldnt play small forward and wouldn't team well with Kobe on the court. Elden couldn't really start with Shaq and he was probably too expensive to keep just as a backup

Agree with the Portland moment in Game 6 when he blew the shot after the perfect feed from Magic. “DUNK THAT MOTHER———!!!!” I can still remember Steve Jones who was doing the color on that game saying “Magic feeds him the perfect pass and then Vlade turns himself into an acrobat...” I was on the floor.

Fortunately Magic saved the day with the brilliant play at the end. And that really was the end, we lost to the Bulls in the Finals and then November 7 came along...

He led the Lakers in the 90-91 season in fG%, Rebs, Blks and Stls.
He also averaged 18.2 Pts 8.8 Reb 1.6 Stls and 2.4 Blks and went 13-13 from the line against the Bulls in that seasons finals. Only he and Magic showed up (I know Worthy was hurt).

He was crafty, quick on his feet, and skilled, but he was much maligned because he wasn't the prototypical physical post center. Today he would easily be one of the best centers in the game._________________"Knucklehead suckers better duck
When the Buck comes through like a truck"